Learning The Ropes
by PrinceBasil
Summary: Little Mac, thrown into the new competition, is all alone. Despite fighting as hard as he can, he usually fails. Maybe a veteran can get him on his feet and show him the ropes, and just maybe, he'll make some friends.


Little Mac sat on the side of the platform, his legs swinging off the side of Final Destination. He sighed and muttered, "Stupid Robin," he paused to take a deep breath and scream, "if only I could fight in the air!" He pounded his fist next to him and wiped away a few tears with his pink sweatshirt. "I finally come to this stupid tournament and I can't even win! I can't even make any friends!" Little Mac gathered his thoughts and sighed softly, standing up and nodding quickly with determination, he began to throw punches, he ducked, dodged, practiced his footwork, he shadowboxed for a few minutes before sitting back down, surrounded by the empty vastness of Final Destination. Little Mac flopped over, lying down, staring up into the blank void of space, hopeless. He slowly drifted to sleep.

As Little Mac slept, Samus was wide awake, fighting for her life against Yoshi and Luigi. Samus dashed around the giant living room, dodging falling blocks and thrown eggs. Luigi yelled in his shrill voice, "Yoshi, wombo combooo!" Samus glanced back at Luigi to see him lunging at her, she dodged away to see Yoshi right in her face, trying to grab her. Samus jumped away from them and shot a missile down at them, smashing them both, Luigi KO'd to the left and Yoshi KO'd to the right. Samus made a graceful landing as Luigi and Yoshi hovered back on to the stage. She looked up nervously, hoping the clock would run out soon. Just then, everything went into slow motion, she muttered under her power suit, "Never gonna get used to this." Suddenly she was transported to the victory lobby, she took her usual pose, proud of her victory. "Samus!", the iconic voice shouted. Samus smirked under her suit, she was proud of another victory, just she was still missing something, and some of this didn't make sense. Why was she even in this tournament? Her enthusiasm quickly turned to stress, confusion taking her over, she went back to the main lobby, waiting for another match to be picked, her one chance to relax between every match, she sighed and took off her armor. Megaman walked through the lobby and turned his head toward Samus, now in her Zero suit, he gave her a quick wink and kept walking. Samus rolled her eyes and shouted at him as he walked past, "You know I'm not a robot, right?!" Samus slumped back into her chair, sick of robots trying to hit on her for her armor. ROB began to scoot by, turning toward her as he rolled by, Samus just closed her eyes and muttered, "Why don't you just go back to spinning gyros of something." Samus thought about why she was even at the tournament, her eyes still closed. She slowly drifted to sleep.

Samus shot awake in a strangely familiar area, it was all black and white, she thought for a moment, "A-hah, it's the gameboy." Samus looked around, trying to analyze where she was, without her suit it was much harder to scan her surroundings. The area was childish, lots of clouds and hills. "Well it certainly isn't my game. No one remembers Metroid II." She thought harder and shouted, "Dreamland!" She thought harder, "Wait, if this is Dreamland, then where is my opponent?" Samus wandered around to find someone sleeping, in a pink blanket. She kicked the lump of blankets, to which it shot up quickly. "Woah! Who are you!", Samus shouted, surprised to see it was a boy in a sweatshirt. Little Mac bounced back and forth, ready to fight. Samus bursted into laughter, "You?! Hah! Nice, sweatshirt kid!" Little Mac dropped his fists down and looked a bit hurt. "W-well uh," he thought for a minute, "nice heels!" Little Mac laughed a bit, giving himself a pity laugh. Samus stomped on the ground angrily, "Like I haven't already gotten enough feedback on my heels!" She jumped toward Little Mac and tried to punch him, to which Little Mac dashed to the other side of her. Samus frowned and grabbed him, throwing him into the air. Little Mac panicked and screamed, "Anything but the air!" Samus jumped up and kicked him, almost through the top of the stage. Little Mac took a hard fall back to the ground, "Come on, what was that for?" Samus glanced down at him, "Well if I don't beat you up, how am I gonna win the match?" Little Mac stood up and looked at her, "How do we even know this is a match? I was just asleep and I woke up here!" Samus thought for a moment, "O-oh, yeah." Samus looked around again, before glancing back at Little Mac, "Then, boxer-boy, why are we here?" Little Mac frowned a bit and said, "The name's Mac, alright? Call me Mac, and also, this is Dreamland! We probably both fell asleep and woke up here, this is all a dream, you're probably not even the real Samus." Samus kicked Little Mac into the air, "If this was a dream, would you feel this?!" Little Mac took another hard landing, "D-don't be a jerk!" Samus laughed a bit, "So obviously we're here to fight!" Little Mac thought for a second, "Then wouldn't the time have run out by now?" Samus nodded. "Well, yeah." "Then quit hitting me!" Samus looked up and down, observing Little Mac's small stature, "So, they call you Mac, huh?" Little Mac nodded and Samus smiled, "Well, I guess it's nice to meet you. Never seen you 'round." Little Mac nodded again and thrusted his hand in front of him, extending a glove in friendship, "Yeah, I'm a newcomer." Samus shook his glove and smiled, when all of a sudden a siren went off. "What's that mean?!" Little Mac jumped at the sound and looked around Dreamland. Samus shouted, "Get down, Mac, new challenger!" Little Mac looked worried and put up his gloves, "Well I'm ready! Let's do this!" Samus glanced at him and nodded as Dark Pit hovered into the stage, laughing. Samus smiled a bit, knowing that this would be easy. "Ah, Pitoo, eh?" Samus giggled a bit. Dark Pit looked very upset, he jumped off of his panel and walked toward Samus, "So, who's the little guy?", "His name's Mac. Now back off! He's a newcomer!" Dark Pit shrugged, "Well so am I.", "I hardly count a clone as a newcomer." Dark Pit stomped his foot on the ground, "I'm not a clone!", "Why don't you just go hang out with Dr. Mario? Maybe Toon Link's planning a party! Go join 'em! Heck, maybe even Lucina wants to play!" Dark Pit lunged at Samus, she jumped back. At the moment Dark Pit moved, Little Mac dashed forward, punching Dark Pit in the face. "Ow!" Little Mac bounced around, bobbing and weaving, ready for a fight. Dark Pit gritted his teeth, "Looks like the little guy packs a punch!" Samus stood behind Little Mac, waiting to see what he was capable of. Little Mac lunged at Dark Pit, trying to grab him. Dark Pit dashed back and readied an arrow, Little Mac continued to dash at him, Dark Pit always staying one step ahead of him, firing arrows. Little Mac paused for a moment to catch his breath, he winced a bit in pain. Instantly Little Mac jumped back at him, grabbing Dark Pit and throwing him, bouncing him off the ground. Unable to recover himself in the air, Dark Pit was helpless for a moment, and in that moment, Little Mac used Dark Pit's helplessness to perform a combo on him, left, right, left, right, over and over again, punching, seeming never to stop. Samus took a few steps forward, curiously following the action. She cheered on her new friend, "Go, Mac!" Little Mac finished his combo, sending Dark Pit flying to the side, barely being able to recover before flying offscreen. Dark Pit flew up into the air and stared down at Little Mac angrily. Little Mac stayed silent. "Take that Pitoo!", cried out Samus. Dark Pit looked down, even more upset than before, "I-I'll show you!"

Dark Pit dove down at Little Mac, grabbing him and starting to pummel him, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" Little Mac attempted to escape, but failed. Samus dashed forward and punched Dark Pit, releasing Little Mac from his grasp. Dark Pit winced in pain and charged back at Samus, to which she dodged his attacks. Dark Pit dashed back to attack Samus again, relentless in his assault. Samus dashed back behind Little Mac as Pitoo lunged toward her. Little Mac forward smashed, hitting Dark Pit right in the face, sending him flying far out of Dreamland, "I'll get you two!", Pitoo shouted as he flew offscreen, a huge explosion flying from the side of Dreamland. Samus laughed a bit, "Heh, you're not too bad, Little!" Little Mac pouted and sighed, "Just call me Mac." Samus laughed again and patted him on the back, "No matter what you're called, you're gonna be a good fighter, I bet we've got a good friendship coming." She smiled to Little Mac as he nodded quickly. "I bet we do."


End file.
